The Perfect Storm (a GREAT article on the global economy)

[FuseONE]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1176401,00.html

The Perfect Storm That's About to Hit
Rising Oil Prices and a Weak Dollar could Shatter the Global Economy

by Jeremy Rifkin
snip:
The first hint of what might be in store came last month when Opec announced its decision to withdraw 1m barrels of crude oil a day from the market. Opec is worried about the weakening value of the dollar: it has lost one-third of its value in just under two years. Since Opec sells oil for dollars, the oil-producing countries are losing precious revenue as the value of the dollar continues to erode. And because oil-producing countries then turn around and purchase much of their goods and services from the EU and must pay in euros, their purchasing power continues to deteriorate. (The euro is currently valued at $1.23.)

[Fovea]

1. Just like I have been warning for three years now

only worse with the falling dollar.

[lectrobyte]

2. maybe this is just what we need

to force us to get serious about some sort of energy independence and alternatives to petroleum. Seems like that could "insource" some jobs. Not that it wouldn't suck hard in the short term, but long term, it could be a good thing.

[Fovea]

3. I predicted in a white paper in 2001

that rising energy costs would challenge global trade by increasing the cost of transportation of goods.

If I am alive when it happens, I am going to invest in the first company
that goes into franchise manufacturing, IE, making a wide variety of products in regional factories for regional markets.

One tv plant that makes every brand of TV under license, for example.

[LynzM]

4. That's pretty scary

One more reason to downsize my car and work on moving back to Europe ;) Well, seriously. That's a catastrophic mix of stuff, if it all goes as implied...